Definition:
An account of a person's life written or otherwise recorded by that person. Adjective: autobiographical. See also:
- Memoir
- Biography
- Creative Nonfiction
- The Turbid Ebb and Flow of Misery, by Margaret Sanger
- Imitating the Style of the "Spectator," by Benjamin Franklin
- Langston Hughes on Harlem in the 1920s
Etymology:
From the Greek, "self" + "life" + "write"Observations:
- "An autobiography is the story of a life: the name implies that the writer will somehow attempt to capture all the essential elements of that life. A writer's autobiography, for example, is not expected to deal merely with the author's growth and career as a writer but also with the facts and emotions connected to family life, education, relationships, sexuality, travels, and inner struggles of all kinds. An autobiography is sometimes limited by dates (as in Under My Skin: Volume One of My Autobiography to 1949 by Doris Lessing), but not obviously by theme.
"Memoir, on the other hand, is a story from a life. It makes no pretense of replicating a whole life."
(Judith Barrington, Writing the Memoir: From Truth to Art, Eighth Mountain Press, 2002) - "Unlike autobiography, which moves in a dutiful line from birth to fame, memoir narrows the lens, focusing on a time in the writer's life that was unusually vivid, such as childhood or adolescence, or that was framed by war or travel or public service or some other special circumstance."
(William Zinsser, "Introduction," Inventing the Truth: The Art and Craft of Memoir, Mariner Books, 1998) - "The Confessions of St. Augustine are the first autobiography, and they have this to distinguish them from all other autobiographies, that they are addressed directly to God."
(Arthur Symons, Figures of Several Centuries, 1916)
Pronunciation: o-toe-bi-OG-ra-fee
